MONROE — As the COVID-19 pandemic has drug along, some high school sports are more affected than others.

While a sport like hockey may be deemed safer that some because the action is spread out on a wider playing surface and masks and faceguard coverings can easily attach to helmets, the optics of getting to the rink can be deemed high risk. Unlike a basketball team, which is made entirely of students from one school in nearly all cases across the state, hockey is a completely different story.

The Monroe boys co-op hockey program is unique in that it provides a team for skaters from across multiple schools in multiple counties across two states. So when the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) — and ultimately, Governor J.B. Pritzker — put the kibosh on group gatherings and athletic competition, it meant the potential for up to nine of the about 20 Monroe co-op program players to miss out, including three senior starters.

Then Monroe pushed the start of its season back from November to late December. 

Fearing a lost season, players, their parents and coaches held a meeting to discuss options for this winter.

A proposal was made, and the coaches and parents talked with Monroe administration about their thoughts: For one season, break away from the WIAA and form a Wisconsin Amateur Hockey Association (WAHA) club team, which would allow all players from all schools to continue playing together. Prior to joining the WIAA, Monroe had a WAHA high school team and won the 2011 state championship. 

“I approached Jeff Newcomer and Rick Waski and kind of told them what our plans were and my thought process on how and why we were doing it,” varsity head coach Barry Einbeck said. “They granted that to us and then talked to the school board.”

Newcomer said principals and administrators were nervous about the plans and where the liability would be if the virus spread through the team.  

The Cheesemakers were not the only team do pull the trick. The girls Fury team, which covers 10 schools, also made the same move, and many of the Madison-area schools also switched to club-level. The Madison schools, which are based in Dane County, have the tightest restrictions in the state for groups to meet, let alone youth sports. Combined with a lack of ice, many teams from the Madison-area, like defending WIAA Division 1 Verona and Badger Conference teams like DeForest and Monona Grove, also joined WAHA.

“All the Dane County schools are doing it because of their late start and we weren’t going to be able to start (practicing) until Dec. 14. It just kind of snowballed from there,” Einbeck said. “Our biggest thing was that our kids wanted to play with their teammates. They didn’t want to leave those nine kids out — especially those three seniors. I’m not coaching, which is fine; we just wanted to make sure everybody got on the ice.”

The biggest reason the players and family wanted to switch was simply to play together one more time. Many of the players have grown up through the Monroe Youth Hockey Association program together since they were as young as five years old. 

“We had a schedule and officials line up and all of that. We would have had a team of about 14 or 15 Wisconsin kids, but I understand that they wanted their team to stay together,” Newcomer said. “It was something we expected to happen.”

Had the team stayed as a WIAA member for the season, nearly half of the varsity roster wouldn’t have been able to compete — and the number of games on the schedule was less than 10.

In WAHA, Monroe is scheduled at 25 games with the potential to play even more. Other teams, like Badger rival Oregon, is teetering with the idea of jumping ship as well. With many of Monroe’s opponents from Dane County, it means even more home games. As of Dec. 2, 21 of Monroe’s 25 games were scheduled to be held at SLICE on Monroe’s west side.

“That was part of the whole thing, too. We wanted to make sure that our whole group got something out of it. The way things were set up with our school, I had six, maybe 7 hockey games that Jeff was able to set up,” Einbeck said. “We’ll be playing teams like Verona, who we’ve never been able to play before. Our schedule is a lot harder than in some cases. This is not going to be a lost year.”

Season preview

Monroe is actually already multiple games into the season. The Cheesemakers defeated Monona Grove (8-0, Nov. 23) and DeForest/Madison La Follette (4-2, Nov. 27) to open the year before being put in their place Dec. 1 by Verona, 10-1. The Wildcats, the defending Division 1 state champions, return five all-state players this season, and the difference in speed between the two clubs was noticeable.

“Some of these bigger schools have established themselves as a good, traditional hockey program and they don’t normally want to waste a competitive game,” said Rooney Janecke, who takes over as coach during the club season. “That’s why having a good showing is so important, because we want to play these fast, good teams, because it makes every kid better. It makes every kid play faster and harder, and it helps your kids develop more.”

Verona opened the scoring just 2:06 into the contest, with Carson Lindell putting the puck past Monroe goalie Jayden Johnson. Five minutes later, the Wildcats added another score, this time by Sam Iszczyszyn. Then, with 23 seconds left in the period, Max Codde snapped a shot from a tight angle near the red line to make it 3-0.

Monroe broke the goose egg four minutes into the second period when Cooper Dreyfus of New Glarus passed to Orangeville’s Hayden Roth, who slipped it past Verona goalie Kaden Grant. It was as close as Monroe would get the rest of the night, as Verona scored four more times in the second, and thrice in the third.

In the win over Monona Grove, Roth and fellow Orangeville senior Cade Janecke each scored twice and had two assists. Joshua Haight, Roman Bauer, Blaze Janecke and Aidan Grey also added scores, while Grey, Bauer and Nathan Ratke each had an assist. Ryan Molitor and Nolan Bodenstein each had two assists. Johnson stopped all 19 shots he faced. 

Against the Deforest/La Follette, Molitor had two goals and an assist, while Cade Janecke and Roth each had a goal. Dreyfus and Blaze Janecke each had two assists in the contest, while Bauer and Ratke each had a single assist.

New, but familiar coaches

When the Monroe team switched to club, Einbeck and assistant Tom Stauffacher could not go with them. The club then had to see if any parents wanted to coach, and brothers Rooney and Brett Janecke stepped up. Both have watched their sons Cade (Rooney) and Blaze (Brett) come up through the Monroe Avalanche programs and have kept their USA Hockey coaching certifications current.

“There’s certain certifications you can have — you can go up to a Level 5 with USA hockey,” said Rooney, who is a Level 4. “Each year you have to recertify, so when you’ve got to take these coaching modules, it’s a really organized deal. You get put through that education program and you learn the game. And really, life for someone like me who hadn’t played the game at this level, I have to study. It’s a different animal than coaching baseball.” 

Einbeck said he pleased to see the two fathers step in, mostly because Einbeck wants to see his seniors go out with a semblance of a normal season. This would have been Einbeck’s third season on the job.

“A lot of these kids have played since they were 5- or 6-years-old. They’ve played through our whole program and we wanted to give them at least something to do,” Einbeck said. “I’m just happy for Rooney and Brett Janecke for taking over the team for me this year. Without those guys, we’d be kind of hurting. Rooney’s worked his tail off to get the schedule they’ve got.”

Rooney said that he admires the work Einbeck has done with the program in each of his first couple of years, taking the program from the cellar of the conference standings for its entire WIAA existence to a mid-level team last season.

“Barry is a very knowledgeable coach and the kids respect him,” Rooney said. “When he took the program over, we were a very low-level team, and each year he’s tried to build on that.”

Covid restrictions

Despite being a club, there are still guidelines and restrictions in place. For games, only two family members are allowed inside at a time, which means many parents, siblings or grandparents take turns watching the game from period to period.

“It looks like our parking lot is full, but you go inside and think, ‘where is everyone?’ People have to sit inside their cars,” Rooney Janecke said.

There are no bleachers set up inside the rink, and spectators are to stay in their group and socially distance on the outside of the boards. 

Players are supposed to wear a form of a facemask or spit-guard while playing and facemasks while sitting on the bench. In fact, the fight against COVID-19 is so strong with the hockey team, Rooney Janecke said that the players stretch and get warmed up outside of the arena prior to the game.

“If a game is at 7:15, we open the door at 7 and they run to the locker room and quickly put on their gear, then get on the ice and we drop the puck,” Rooney Janecke said.

Should any player come down with the virus or need to enter quarantine as a close contact, the team would investigate contract tracing at practice. The coaches video record practices and keep the players in small groups or pods, and then would review practices or games to see what other players or coaches were at risk. Rooney Janecke said it is entirely possible that several games would be canceled or postponed if there were an outbreak among the team.